News

Private pupils defect to state schools

INDEPENDENT schools are losing some of their best A-level pupils to the state sector as students scramble to avoid the ??stigma?? of a private education damaging their university applications.

Sixth-form colleges are reporting a surge in students from private schools in the wake of government initiatives to encourage universities to take more state-educated undergraduates. At state-run colleges the number of pupils migrating from the independent sector after their GCSEs has jumped by as much as 40% this term.

Experts say the trend is being fuelled by a number of factors including record fee increases in the independent sector and the Office of Fair Trading investigation into price fixing among private schools.

However, they say fears that a private education may actually damage rather than enhance a child??s university prospects has proved the last straw for some parents.

??Parents no longer think that an independent school will give their child an